#he can only drive bc posh people can drive. if was a lower class thing to do he wouldn’t even drive

[dnprenaissance]

his ass is not forklift certified

[eggphcbe]

((buckle up kids, i’m gonna break that other post down more extensively,,,,

so we all know how felix is in-game. he’s cold, uncaring, selfish, clearly doesn’t give a shit about what happens to ted. then again there’s me, a big softie who believes everyone is inherently good and projects that on all my portrayals. basically, we can safely say my portrayal of felix suppresses literally every emotion he has, and is intensely loyal to his dad but there was a period of time before all the favoritism and need to be completely obedient and dedicated to his dad and to the company, where felix did love ted (and throwing another headcanon into the mix, ‘teddy’ was absolutely an affectionate nickname before it all went to shit and became associated with belittlement,,, bc i love that headcanon,,). 

but being the ‘favourite twin,’ along with seeing the way his father acts towards ted and to other people, felix is an impressionable child and mimics that abusive behaviour. he has clear disdain for the lower class and his dad puts down ted and ignores him, causing felix to do the same. the thing in the roleswap verse, is that his dad’s behaviour is directed at felix instead. and like i said regarding the other post, felix’s entire personality in the main verse is dependent on the way his dad interacts with the people around him, since that’s his father and he looks up to him for guidance on how to act. 

but when that abuse is directed towards him instead, it’s just one part of the whole in ‘why is roleswap felix a nice person’ because he suffers through that, but he has ted to support him in place of his parents. that is the second part of it. main felix is fiercely loyal to his dad; he thinks he can do no wrong and that he’s always right in his decisions, which is reinforced by the huxleys’ decision to make felix the golden child. but when the roles are reversed, and felix is the scapegoat, he desperately tries to prove himself to his dad that he can be good enough, which embeds the thought in his mind that father is wrong about that one thing. who’s to say he can’t be wrong with anything else? even if rs!felix doesn’t want to admit as much on the surface level, his subconscious is well aware of the fact that his dad can be wrong. that he can be untrustworthy, and hurtful. 

so without an authority figure to look up to as a model for how to act to gain his dad’s approval, who does he turn to instead? who else is a prominent family member who knows exactly how to win his dad’s favor? that’s right, ted. and it’s directly because his parents treat felix badly that ted has to step up and be there for felix, because he cares about him and knows no one else will help if he doesn’t. so he does exactly that. and because rs!felix is now looking at ted, the golden child who his parents adore, felix tries to mimic the way he acts instead of his father now. and ted is still inherently kind, compassionate, considerate, and sensitive, so constantly being with him and spending time with him, felix learns to be more in touch with his own emotions and the emotions of others. main verse felix didn’t have that, because all his time was spent with his father, who believes that emotions are weak and then he adopted that mentality too. it was the constant exposure to each thing that made those versions of felix grow so differently from each other. a bit of both nature and nurture :’)c

rs!felix grew incredibly different from canon felix because of the way he was treated growing up (parents believing he’s useless, ignoring him, but having ted around to stand up for him and console him, treating him with kindness and love). it’s clear he’s really different from his canon self, so i guess the next question here is about ted: why doesn’t rs!ted act like canon felix if he grew up to be the favourite twin and endured all those lessons from his dad like canon felix supposedly did?

i’ll answer that,,,,,, under the cut because this is getting really long lmao

so if felix is the incredibly obedient one towards his father, what does that make ted? that’s right, he’s the rebellious twin. “but that doesn’t make sense,” you might say, “he does everything felix asks of him, doesn’t he?”

the answer to that is yes... only when felix is watching. ted’s entire thing is that he goes behind felix’s back to defy his orders. hitman’s potty guard is literally about proving felix wrong, showing that ted does not back down even after felix insults him, calls him mediocre, tells him his plan will never work. we can assume that kind of behaviour from felix is constant and occurs frequently, so ted should be used to being insulted by felix for who knows how long. yet, in the ‘present day’ when kindergarten 2 takes place, he still is willing to prove felix wrong. he still hasn’t given up on showing his family he’s competent and capable. that gives off rebellious, defiant vibes to me. even if it’s in a little way. even if it’s in the smallest way he can allow himself to rebel, it’s still something.

in my roleswap au, of course ted keeps those traits. not to mention, in the game he clearly hasn’t adopted the posh manner of speaking; ted speaks like a regular kid, not a high class adult. he hasn’t adopted the snobbishness that felix has, that disdain for anyone who isn’t wealthy like his family. he knows his morals and is incredibly inclined towards not wanting to be mean, even if he does do whatever it takes to get his plan moving forward. all those things-- is why i have reason to believe ted’s personality definitely isn’t influenced by his father at all. sure, his need for approval comes from wanting his father and brother to love him, but that’s really all there is to it. 

it’s influenced by the way felix treats him. in canon, he’s subservient, compliant, and apologetic. those traits are ones that i don’t consider to be some of his core personality traits, because those are learned behaviours. mostly from felix constantly berating him, insulting him, convincing him that he should be sorry for existing, so ted has learned not to make mistakes in his family’s presence. sometimes ted will ‘step out of line,’ butting into the conversation and trying to do things on his own terms. that independence is what’s actually part of him

so keeping that in mind, that is the reason why his dad’s lessons haven’t gotten to him like it got to canon felix. in the roleswap au, felix reveres ted as basically his savior. because ted stands up for felix in front of their father, despite the risk of getting in trouble for it (which is where the rebellious streak is channeled towards in this au), and felix is incredibly dependent on ted to receive love and comfort because felix has no other source for those necessities. felix is still incredibly envious, of course, but ted keeps him in check by being understanding and kind and vulnerable towards him (making felix learn to behave that way as well), which is spitting in the face of everything his father taught him about business, about being ruthless, coldly ambitious, and selfish. 

in addition, his positive traits in this au are amplified by the positive reinforcement he receives from his parents, rather than them brushing off his abilities. and it’s because he is the golden child, who gets his parents’ love and attention and praise, that ted is more confident in himself in this au. so that confidence plus the natural need to rebel allows him to be brave enough to stand up for his brother when no one else won’t. it gives him the drive to keep going despite all the pressure stacked onto him, while supporting felix on top of that. but it’s his perseverance to hold onto his own beliefs that allows him to stay relatively the same, instead of resorting to the kind of person canon felix is.

basically the short answer to all that is, felix and ted are the same people underneath everything. it’s just the circumstances and the way they grew up and interact with each other change certain aspects about themselves, some more obvious than others between this au and in canon))

[gxldensnitched]

undeniable (part 2/?)

I just finished this! It’s posted on AO3 and a few posts back if you haven’t read the first part :) I decided to make this a little Albus centric bc I love him, so I hope you enjoy!

There were a lot of things that Albus Potter was good at. Things that might actually come in useful, like potions or charms. He was quite skilled at defence (he firmly believed that his father’s additional holiday lessons had nothing to do with that) and while flying, he could pull out of a sharp drive with his broom (and bones) fully intact. 

But one thing that completely stumped him was history. He hated learning the names and tales of witches and wizards who’d helped “pave the way” as Professor Binns claimed, towards modern magic. It was something he deemed completely unnecessary. After all, what was there to gain by knowing when Stupefy was first used? Or the duration of the goblin revolution? 

Albus personally thought History was boring. They didn’t do much besides take notes and listen to their ghastly professor drone on and on about wars, warlocks, and on good days, historical potion making. 

Albus buried his face in his arms, closing his eyes. It may be dreadful, but history was a great class to take if you wanted to catch up on your sleep. He’d often joked that insomniacs could merely listen to a tape recording of one of Binns’ lessons, and they’d be able to fall asleep in no time. Rose had rolled her eyes, but everyone else laughed, so he paid her no mind. She had an awful sense of humour anyway. 

The caffeine he’d consumed that morning fought to keep him awake, and after half an hour of trying to rest with no avail, he let out a frustrated sigh and lifted his head back up. 

“Good morning, grumpy pants. You only missed every point that Binns said would be on our OWLs,” came Rose’s bored whisper from the seat beside him. 

“It’s afternoon, and I wasn’t asleep,” was his response, which came out muffled as he decided burying his face in his arms was still a better option than trying and failing to listen to the lecture while Rose poked him with her quill whenever he zoned out.

He heard Rose’s sigh and the scratching of her quill on parchment, and smiled into his arms slightly as he realized she wasn’t going to sacrifice her precious note taking time to try and keep him alert. 

After a few minutes of not so satisfying rest, the class slowly started to increase in volume, and Albus looked back up. 

“Is class over already?” He asked, as people began to stand up. 

“No, Albus. He said we could collaborate to answer the questions on the board. You have a terrible sense of hearing, you know that?” Rose asked, but there was no real malice in her voice. 

“If my hearing is so terrible, why do I know that Yann Fredericks is planning to ask you to the Valentine’s ball?” He said with a raise of his brow, looking up at his cousin smugly.

Rose’s freckled skin went pink, and she shot him a glare that wasn’t up to her usual standards. The look of satisfaction on her face couldn’t be missed, even as she turned to head away from their shared desk. 

“You’re going to abandon me? You know none of my friends were stupid enough to take this horrible class again, Rose!” Albus whined, pulling on Rose’s arm to hold her back. Despite her bossiness and love of control, she was a good partner to work with. Especially when you didn’t know a thing about a subject. 

She turned around with an exasperated look on her face, one that Albus was quite accustomed to. He didn’t mind, he loved getting a rise out of her, even if it meant getting a scolding from his mum. 

“You can sit with my friends and I. If you behave,” she replied, pulling him off the seat. 

“Your friends are all girls.” 

“So?”

“So, that’s a little weird.”

“You’re a little weird, Albus. Besides, Polly would love to work with you.” Rose gave him a slight smile, and he groaned. 

“Absolutely not,” he protested, stopping in his tracks. 

Polly Chapman had been his girlfriend of a pitiful two months, before she’d declared her love for him over dinner and he’d promptly spat out his pumpkin juice. All over the front of her new silk robes, to be specific.

In her defence, they had only been in third year. Raging hormones was Rose’s explanation. 

“Oh, give her another chance!” Rose said, putting an arm around his shoulders and pushing him towards the opposite end of the room. “She hasn’t gotten over you and you know it!” 

“She told me she loved me! We’d only kissed eight times!” 

“You were thirteen, Al! And you seriously kept count?”

Albus’s cheeks grew slightly pink, but pulled away from her. 

“I’ll work alone. Or with the vast array of nerds in this class whose names I don’t even know.” Albus watched with an expression of mock betrayal as his cousin headed over to her group of girls, where he locked eyes with Polly for a brief second before hastily turning away.

“Suit yourself!” Rose said, not looking back. 

Albus ran his hand through his jet black hair with a sigh, looking around the room to see if he could spot at least one person he knew who wouldn’t spend the period gawking at him. His bright eyes scanned the room before falling on a familiar white-blond head of neatly combed hair. 

Scorpius Malfoy would be the perfect partner. After all, his knowledge of potions surpassed even Albus’s own, which made him a certified genius in Albus’s eyes. He’d been much nicer than Albus had expected, and the last time they’d worked together was surprisingly pleasant. Not to mention the way Scorpius seemed to know the reason behind everything, from why you shouldn’t add too much lavender sprigs to why Slughorn had paired them together in the first place. 

He quietly approached Scorpius, who was sitting a few rows ahead of him, books and papers strewn all over his desk. 

“Hey.”

Scorpius startled, dropping his peacock feather quill onto his parchment, creating a coal black smudge.

He turned around to face Albus, a mixture of confusion and relief when he saw who it was. 

“Shit, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you.” Albus said, giving him an apologetic smile, while also trying not to laugh. He made a mental note to sneak up on Scorpius more often, except next time he’d do it when Scorpius was empty handed.

“Oh, it’s okay, I have plenty of parchment, anyway.” He gestured to the mess on his desk, rubbing the back of his neck. 

“I can see that.” Albus shot him a smile before sitting down. Scorpius’s eyes widened slightly, as if he thought Albus was just passing his desk on the way to someone else’s.

“What? Is this seat taken?” Albus asked, confused. 

“No, it’s not that! You’re completely welcome to sit here.” He paused. “I’m just... wondering... why?” 

“My cousin’s being annoying, and you’re a better partner than her anyway. Unless you were planning on working alone? I can leave if you want.” 

“No!” Scorpius added, a little too quickly. Seeming to notice, he added “I mean, I was. But I’d rather work with you, obviously. If that’s what you want?” 

“That’s why I walked all the way over here,” Albus replied, emphasizing the words all the way and gesturing to his desk, only a few steps behind Scorpius’s. 

He shot Scorpius a sideways grin before fishing around in his bag for a piece of parchment. 

“Oh, right. Obviously.” Scorpius blushed, and Albus laughed. 

“You don’t have to be so nervous, you know! I’m not going to curse you or anything.” Albus laughed, and Scorpius’s shoulders loosened. Albus was used to people being nervous around him, but this felt different. Oddly enough, he felt a little nervous himself. It must have been because of the whole Malfoy-Potter rivalry thing. 

“I know, sorry. It’s just that you’re Albus Potter.” Scorpius spoke lightly, sounding posh even when he was nervous. 

“And you’re Scorpius Malfoy.” Albus responded. “Wanna make a bet?” 

This seemed to scare Scorpius slightly, and his eyes widened. Albus couldn’t help but notice how grey they were. They reminded Albus of thunderstorms, the comforting kind that make you want to snuggle up in bed with coffee (or butterbeer, if he was in the mood) and a book. He’d never met anyone with thunderstorm eyes before, and it took a while for him to pull his own gaze away. 

“A bet?” Scorpius asked.

“M-hmm. If you apologize one more time during the remainder of this class - which, I might add, is a double period - you have to be my potions partner for the rest of the month.” Albus grinned, and Scorpius visibly relaxed, letting out a breath. 

“That doesn’t seem like much of a punishment,” he pointed out. “And what if I win?”

“Then...” Albus pondered for a moment. “I’ll show you something... special.”

Scorpius seemed intrigued. He leaned closer to Albus than he was before. Albus took advantage of this, wriggling his eyebrows. He lowered his voice to a whisper.

“It’s something you’d never get a chance to see with your own eyes. It will utterly enchant you.” He said, in the dramatic voice he usually reserved for babysitting Lily and Hugo, when he’d had to make something mediocre sound interesting in order to keep them still. 

This, however, was far from mediocre.

“I formally agree to this bet,” Scorpius said, and Albus wanted to roll his eyes at how he talked. He sounded like Albus would have when he was trying to imitate one of the annoying, overly serious business wizards his father often complained about. 

“Good.” Albus flashed him a wide grin, and Scorpius reciprocated, making him wonder why he’d never done this sooner. 

“Shall we get started?” Scorpius asked, rearranging the supplies on his desk.

“Do we have to?” 

“Technically, no. Failing is always an option.” Scorpius responded thoughtfully.

“I really can’t tell if you’re being sarcastic or not.” Albus laughed. “Although if you’re serious, we might as well ditch right now and go flying.” 

Scorpius laughed. 

“It wasn’t sarcasm, but failing isn’t really an option,” He said, as he started to copy down the questions from the blackboard. 

His writing was neat and loopy, and all his letters looked the same. That was a feat Albus could only dream of accomplishing, and he quickly flipped to a piece of empty parchment, hoping that Scorpius hadn’t gotten a glimpse of his scrawly, almost unintelligible handwriting. 

“I don’t care if I fail this class, to be honest.” Albus said, doodling a broomstick on the corner of his page.

Scorpius looked at him incredulously, raising his eyebrows. That had most definitely made him sound like a careless jock. 

“Not that I don’t care about my education or anything. It’s just... history is kind of useless, isn’t it?” Albus said. There was no doubt that Scorpius would agree with him, because he knew there wasn’t a pupil in all of Hogwarts who genuinely enjoyed the class. Albus would safely say he knew almost everyone in their year, and even a few students from other years, thanks to his multitude of relatives. None of them liked history. 

But Scorpius was looking at him like he’d deeply offended his great ancestors. 

“That’s not true! History paved the way towards modern magic!” 

“So I’ve heard. Every day since first year.” Albus rolled his eyes. 

“Without history, we wouldn’t have broomstick advancements. You do know that, right? Your Firebolt would be practically a tree branch. You wouldn’t be able to fly more than five miles per hour.” 

Albus put his hands up defensively. Clearly he was wrong about no one being passionate about history.

“Damn, I’m working with an actual nerd,” he said, letting out a breathy laugh. 

Scorpius paused for a moment, and it looked like he was contemplating whether Albus had meant that as a joke or as an insult. He seemed to have decided on joke, and he gave Albus an embarrassed smile as he turned back to his empty parchment. 

“You know the point of working together is so that we can get more done,” Scorpius pointed out, and Albus had to refrain from rolling his eyes. This was like working with a male version of a slightly nicer Rose. 

“Really?” Albus responded sarcastically. “I thought it was to make this dreadful class a little bit more bearable.” 

Scorpius paused before responding.

“This is my favourite class.” 

Albus almost choked.

“Seriously? No, for real?” He asked in disbelief. 

“Yes, I think history is fascinating. I mean, look at all the spells that have been created in the last decade!”

“They’re alright.” 

“Alright? They’re wonderful! You can practically do anything you want using magic nowadays.” Scorpius said dreamily, gazing off into space. Albus desperately wanted to ask Scorpius if he had a thing for historians, but he refrained. 

“You can make your bed, comb your hair, and even tie your shoes using a simple incantation!” Scorpius continued, now incorporating in some hand gestures. Albus felt like he was watching one of those muggle infomercials that often came on TV. 

“No offence, but if I needed magic to tie my own shoes, I’d probably never show my face in public.” Albus responded, rolling his eyes. 

“That’s besides the point!” 

“Okay, okay, I guess you’re right...” Albus lied, still as eager to leave the class as he was before. Not even history nerd Scorpius Malfoy could change his opinion on this subject. 

Scorpius gave him a small smile before returning to his work. 

Albus watched him write, occasionally jotting down some answers of his own. He tried to slow down, making his letters a little bit more legible than they normally were. He couldn’t help but notice how much more relaxed Scorpius had gotten since the first time they’d worked together. 

Scorpius was currently gazing at his desk, with his chin in one hand and fancy quill in the other. The only other wizards he’d seen use peacock feathers were high level ministry workers at his father’s workplace. His father owned one too, of course, but Harry had always been more of the traditional sort, sometimes even using muggle pens. 

“Do... you need something?” Scorpius’s voice broke him out of his thoughts, and he realized he’d been staring. 

“Huh? Oh, sorry,” Albus said, turning away with a little shake of his head. “I was just... admiring your quill. It’s very nice.” 

Way to make yourself sound smooth, Albus thought to himself, cringing. 

But Scorpius didn’t seem to notice, and he gave Albus a warm beam.

“Thanks! It was a Christmas gift from my father. I think he got tired of buying me books, he says I probably already own the whole bookstore. Which isn’t true, of course. One can never have too many books!” Scorpius rambled. It was something he seemed to do a lot, but Albus didn’t mind. 

“You sound like Rose.” Albus laughed. “She’s almost as big of a nerd as you, I bet you’d get along well.” 

“Maybe, if she didn’t hate my guts.” Scorpius pointed out.

“She doesn’t.”

“How do you know?”

“She’s my cousin. We usually tend to have the same opinions on people.” 

“And what exactly is your opinion?”

Albus thought for a moment. What was his opinion? 

For one, Scorpius Malfoy seemed like the polar opposite of what he’d heard. Albus didn’t think he’d ever met anyone so sweet in his life. Other than grandma Molly, of course. 

He was also a huge nerd. That much was obvious. 

Apart from that, Albus didn’t know what else to think. He couldn’t shake the feeling that there was something he should do. 

As Scorpius’s eyes met his own, he pondered what to say. He couldn’t lift his gaze, and for the first time, he couldn’t find the words to express himself, which was saying a lot considering he’d been told by many that his quick witted responses were so good that he should consider a career in magical law. 

So he settled on the truth, and shot Scorpius a small grin. The subtle, smirky kind that made his eyes flash and almost always got him what he wanted. 

“I like you.”